By Newsgram Staff Writer

In a move that has got the world applauding for Costa Rica, the country has completely given up reliance on fossil fuels for energy generation. So far this year, it has maintained itself on hydropower supplemented by geothermal, solar, and wind energy sources.

The Latin American country has had a good record of using clean and renewable energy. The country generated almost 80% of energy last year using hydropower. It has also invested $958 million in various geothermal projects.

Costa Rica is already well placed in terms of energy consumption as the small population size of 5 million and the absence of a lot of manufacturing industries hardly create a huge power demand. The presence of renewable sources of energy especially, geothermal has also facilitated the move.

The move towards renewable energy is imperative for the sustenance of the environment and life on earth. It is inevitable too as conventional sources of energy are limited. Apart from Costa Rica, Bonaire, a Dutch island territory off the coast of Venezuela is also in line to completely do away with fossil fuels. Iceland produces 85% of its energy from geothermal and hydropower plants. European Union has also set a goal of producing 20% of its total energy from renewable sources by 2020. Denmark, which produces 40% of its energy from wind energy has decided to bid adieu to fossil fuels by 2050.